i went to a yoga thing over the last few days--it was supposed to be a 7-day conference/workshop,but du to many many things going on, many many of which are about as far from yoga as one could get (good training...), i only went to 4 of the 7 days. given how i have been feeling, this was just about right. thank you nana for all of your help, i know it was exhausting.

it was a terrific experience, as usual, and i learned a whole bunch, most notably, how to assist people in different postures. the most significant one for me was learning how to 'assist' or 'do' savasana for people. for those who don't know, savasana is 'corpse pose' in which you are lying flat on your back, in a state of relaxation. there's more, but that's the basic idea--it is done at the end of a practice in order to relax and absorb the effects of the pactice. anyway, if you have someone to assist you, relaxing is a lot easier, because it basically becomes a massage--not whole body, but feet, hands, neck, head, as well as pulling on the legs to lengthen out of the hips, adjusting shoulder blades, etc etc.

as we were learning this, it was very interesting and i enjoyed it, but it did not hit me until i arrived home and was puting ava to bed that this would be a very useful thing for her at night. so, i did it. not only did she fall asleep instantly (she did take the time to say "that feels really good" when i was pulling on her legs), but she did not squirm, fidget, start snapping -- which is her ants in the pants thing lately -- or even say a word other than the above commentary and a little giggle when i tried to pull on her toes. my gratitude to the universe was huge. i could not believe how she responded.

the other day, carter complained that his nose was bleeding. we have had this issue in the past a few times, and so i was ready to see the evidence--but there was none. so i said, "honey, your nose is not bleeding..."

"yes it is! it huurrrrrrrrts!" he wailed.

"ok, well, let's get a tissue...ok, here...blow...............what is that??? carter, look! you had a carrot in your nose!"

it was a chewed up (large) piece of carrot that he must have inhaled into his nasal cavity at some point.

i cannot explain the hilarity that ensued. both ava and carter thought that the fact that you could put something in your mouth and have it come out your nose was just the funniest thing ever.

we have had a lot of beach time this week. ava inserted herself into a group of 10-year-old boys who were digging a very deep (up to her shoulders) hole, and bless their souls, they welcomed her graciously. she was THRILLED to be allowed to help. and then they were being silly in a way that only 10-year-olds can be, and she was laughing and laughing and laughing her head off. not sure how much i will appreciate this trend when she is 15, but now it was pretty cute to watch her join in.

i helped carter with another set of holes and castles, and i now have blisters on my fingertips from all the sand digging that i have done. apparently this causes a bit of commotion, as 2 mothers have approached me in the store to comment on my involvement in the sand construction--and both have said "i am so over all that..." which, i suppose is something you might feel after 10 years of castle-building, but right now, it is fun to see their ideas get going with just a little prompting. the way i look at it is that i am not coming home sand-free, no matter what i do, so why not build a castle? really, it's fun.

however, i have to say that as much as i admire them, i am getting a bit tired of the ironmen and women. the ironman is this weekend, and they are everywhere (as they should be). problem is, they seem to forget that we are here too. one woman basically jumped on ava today as she was demonstrating a swim start for her buddies--and had i not been completely flabbergasted as well as totally unable to catch her, i would have said something. unfortunately i will never be able to identify her without goggles and a swim cap. another swerved right in front of my car tonight--now i LOVE road biking, and i am super duper conscious of bikers, but there is not a lot i can do if you suddenly veer off the shoulder into the middle of my lane when i am oh, 40 feet away from you and traveling 20 more mph than you are. it was really bizarre, but no one was hurt and she eventually (after a minute or so of creating a huge line of crawling traffic) moved back over.

finally, tonight ava and carter got in a huge squabble over some toy. i came in to intervene and when i calmly tried to talk about it, ava pulled out some of her most impressive impersonations of a teenager that she could find. it got to a point that was unacceptable as far as i was concerned, so i walked away. she needed something, and when she could not get it, she became more and more frantic, and making worse and worse choices regarding the words she used. i stayed calm (very difficult), and just repeated that this was not ok. finally she stormed off. a few minutes later, she reappeared and asked me what the words to "that mary prayer" were. previously, i had suggested to ava that since nothing i say to comfort her works to calm her down, she should try talking to mary and asking her for help--and i taught her the hail mary. i have no idea why (well, besides the obvious saintliness/mother of god/all around holy lady bit), but mary is ava's heroine. so, i repeated the prayer for her, and then she sat quietly--i went into the other room, and about 3 minutes later, she came in and said "mommy, i'm sorry..." and crawled in my lap and talked it all over with me. you could not have had a more abrupt change in attitude.

i asked her if mary helped, and she said "yes, but the first time i did not pray long enough, and nothing happened. but the second time it worked..."

all i can say is thank you, yet again, mary.

i know it is summer, soccer camp is over, we took a week off, blah blah blah. i don't know why, but we are still so crazy busy. i guess, no matter what is going on, there will always be a thousand things to do. right now we are trying to empty the storage area, which has had all of our "nonessentials" for over a year while we planned and postponed our move. unfortunately, the first round of bins were put in a back room and ignored for a few weeks. but, i just can't deal with knowing that there is a mess behind a door. i wish i could, but things like junk drawers and junk closets--or in this case, junk rooms--just drive me insane. (thanks mom). yesterday, since it was raining, i pulled out a pile of dress-up cloths, blankets of varying sizes--from a king feather bed to a doll blanket, and yet another bin of stuffed animals and piled all of it in my "office" (also a depository for all of the bags and paraphenalia that we use on a regular basis), and the kids just went to town. i added music and 4 hours later the kids were still going strong.

amazing what they can come up with. granted, most of their toys migrated into the room with them, so by that point, i had a clean "storage" room, but 4 (playroom, 2 bedrooms, my office) very very very cluttered and chaotic rooms. that is when i go looking for the broom and sweep it all into one large pile in one large room.

the project continues today. i dread going to the storage area and hauling another 5 huge bins, but i really would like to get this accomplished before ava's party. which is approaching fast. she is having a fairy party. we have all sorts of decorations, etc., but the one thing we really really need is mosquito netting, and you would think that this would not be hard to find in the adirondack park where i think there are 5000 varieties of biting insects. but it is. impossible. we are going to have to drive to plattsburgh (ugh) to go to the craft store to find something equivalent. and i also have to decide if i want to make the guests fairy wings (hangers and white stockings apparently accomplish this) or if i want to just go buy them. i promised that costumes would be provided. that was when i was feeling very motivated. and carter has said that he wants a blue party, a jumpy party, and a pirate party. i am lobbying for a repeat of the blue party. that was easy.

here's an interesting finding: if you put your kids who don't nap down for a nap (presuming of course that your eldest just went through a grueling week of soccer camp and is exhausted enough to sleep), promising fireworks if they go to sleep for an hour or so, and they follow through and sleep for an hour (ava) and 2 hours (carter), they will STILL want to go to bed at their regular bedtime, and will be sleepy and cranky until they get to go to bed.

but, in the morning, they will remember the fireworks (the loud scary fireworks) as something magical.

the parade was cute, the sinfonietta on the lawn was fun, the late night guide boat ride to the playground was exciting (playground not so much--there must have been hundreds of kids on the playscape--recipe for disaster), and then the fireworks, which were well done.

ava is trying to rescue a stranded baby raccoon (adolescent, really), who has been stuck in a tree for 4 days now. presumably it got scared and ran up there. she has organized a phone campaign, rallying relatives far and wide. on her behalf (and the raccoon's) i called the police, who were well aware of it, and i was told that the DEC (dept of environmental conservation) had been notified and would take care of it on monday. while the poor thing dies of dehydration -- or rabies, even more horriffic. you would think that there is one officer on duty with access to a tranquilizer gun who could make the effort to come get a suffering animal out of a tree. obviously, no one wants to handle it, but it really needs to be taken care of. it has proven to be very distressing to ava, but at least she has been pacified just by knowing that someone eventually is going to help it.

at least she did not think of calling the police herself. which she would have done, had it crossed her mind. at the park, she was ready to grab a passing crowd control officer and MAKE him get that raccoon down. which i almost let her do, but refrained as it was he 4th of july and he was a little bit busy.

so, ava has had soccer camp all week--a week-long, half day of soccer. she has had a great time, loved what she learned, loved getting new gear (in fact, the cleats and shin guards are what sold her on it), loved eating in the cafeteria, and generally has done very very well. all of her friends are there, and she is very proud of herself.

but, oh my god, she is tired, and all i can say is thank god there are only 2 more days left. (that, and i am very tired of scrambling to make sure that i do the dark load at night to make sure that her one and only official t-shirt is clean and ready the next morning...)

my only question/concern: we have to do this all YEAR for kindergarten?

the first day, they gave us a black and white ball, which ava LOVED. black and white is her favorite. that night, the kids were told to go home and decorate it. have you ever tried decorating a soccer ball? not exactly pourous, and nothing stuck. even permanent markers. (i later learned that only sharpies work). so finally we found some paints that seemed to work. a little later, we had a very colorful ball. i was sort of worried, because i thought maybe she would be upset that it was no longer black and white, but she did not say anything. later that night, i was cleaning up the paints, and noticed that they said "washable" -- and i knew instantly that the paint would be off in 3 seconds, the minute that ball got wet in the morning grass. i warned her, and said that it might fade. well, fade it did. when i picked her up, she had a brand new, totally black and white ball. when i asked her about it, she said "i like it better this way. i don't want to color it..."

interestingly, tonight, when i asked her what her favorite sport was, she said "art."

today they were supposed to have a huge water fight, but it rained, so it was postponed. yesterday i went on a 2-county search or a super soaker water gun, and finally found something suitable at the dollar store. that and water balloons, which, if you were wondering, are something that an almost 3-year-old cannot help but pick up and throw inside the house, no matter how many times you have told him that it is not to be touched...so, after soccer, with a bag of water balloons and 2 huge super water squirter things, we decided to have our own water fight on the beach in the rain. this was a LOT of fun, though i think most everyone thought we were nuts, or at least i was, for allowing my children to practically swim in their rain coats. actually, ava did swim in hers.

we went strawberry picking yesterday. carter got stung by a bee, but neither child really knows that, otherwise they would never go outside again. he was fine after a bit. they had a great time otherwise, and we have been swimming in strawberries. tonight we had strawberry shortcake with fresh whipped cream. mmmm. no jam though. since 1 jar lasts for about 3 months around here, i figured that was not necessary.